A bill proposing that gay and lesbian Ugandans be executed is coming back to Uganda's Parliament - it could pass at any moment.

President Museveni once promised that he would not sign this bill into law. With pressure mounting on him to support the bill, only a massive global outcry - along with our friends in Uganda - will make him keep his promise.

Last year, we helped stop this bill in its tracks. We need to do it again."

Disgusting to see that the officials in some countries still seem to live in the dark ages. This is lack of enlightenment at its worst.

Done. My comment:

Dear President Yoweri Museveni,

I assume your 'anti-homosexuality bill' is a way of deflecting attention from your own gay feelings. How sad.

A bill proposing that gay and lesbian Ugandans be executed is coming back to Uganda's Parliament - it could pass at any moment.

President Museveni once promised that he would not sign this bill into law. With pressure mounting on him to support the bill, only a massive global outcry - along with our friends in Uganda - will make him keep his promise.

Last year, we helped stop this bill in its tracks. We need to do it again."

Disgusting to see that the officials in some countries still seem to live in the dark ages. This is lack of enlightenment at its worst.

A teacher at Deerfield Beach High School is fighting the Broward school district over its handling of an accusation that she possibly contributed to a young girl's homosexuality.

Juliet Hibbs, a straight woman currently on medical leave, was investigated last year for misconduct after the girl's parents made those allegations to the school's principal. However, the district cleared her and no action was taken.

"I was shocked by the charges" and the principal's decision to have the district pursue the matter, said Hibbs, 47, who is now filing a case with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the school system.

According to the district's investigative report, the incident began last year while the student was in Hibbs' class. She was suddenly barraged with incendiary messages from her stepdad on her Twitter feed after he discovered the girl's orientation.

"As each message came, she got smaller … I watched her get destroyed," Hibbs said, who reported the incident as child abuse and cyberbullying.

The girl, 18 at the time, never returned home.

The parents told investigators they were upset that Hibbs had not told them about their daughter's orientation. They accused her of possibly contributing to their daughter being gay and believed Hibbs had told the girl to not come home.

But in the district report, the daughter said an abuse counselor told her she didn't have to go home because she was of age. Of Hibbs, she said the allegations were far-fetched since a straight woman couldn't make someone become a lesbian.

Hibbs said the complaint should have been handled by the school and she believes the district investigation was an attempt to bully her for being too outspoken on other school issues.

"My career has been ruined. Before Deerfield, I had an impeccable record," said Hibbs, an educator for 10 years. She said she now has several medical problems from the stress of the situation that will likely prevent her from teaching.

The school's principal, Jon Marlow, did not respond to two calls seeking comment.

Hibbs has filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the district, the principal and the assistant principal at Deerfield Beach High.

Advocates for the gay and lesbian community called the charges absurd.

"A teacher doesn't determine the sexual orientation of a student," said Dr. Katharine Campbell, director of clinical services at SunServe in Broward County, which works with gay youth. She said teachers are there to help students find out who they are and helping them shouldn't bring repercussions.

Hibbs isn't the first to accuse the principal of intimidation. Over the summer, about half a dozen teachers spoke out about mistreatment at the school. Though no formal investigation against Marlow was ever launched, Superintendent Robert Runcie said he would look into the matter.

The UPS Foundation today joined a growing number of corporate leaders in providing financial support to those organizations that align with the company’s non-discrimination policy. Under this policy, the Boy Scouts of America is no longer eligible for grants from the UPS Foundation because of the BSA's ban on gay scouts and scout leaders.

The UPS Foundation posted the following on its site:

"The UPS Foundation seeks to support organizations that are in alignment with our focus areas, guidelines, and non-discrimination policy. UPS and The UPS Foundation do not discriminate against any person or organization with regard to categories protected by applicable law, as well as other categories protected by UPS and The UPS Foundation in our own policies. These include, but are not limited to race, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran or military status, pregnancy, age and religion."

UPS confirmed to GLAAD that under these guidelines, which UPS said have been in development for several months, organizations that are unable to attest to having a policy or practices that align with the Foundation’s non-discrimination policy will no longer be considered eligible for funding. Prior to The UPS Foundation’s non-discrimination language, UPS gave $167,000 to various Boy Scouts of America entities in 2010 and said there would not be a change to grant-making at that time according to an American Independent report in September 2012. UPS has consistently received high marks on the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) Corporate Equality Index, an annual survey that rates U.S. corporations on their non-discrimination policies and practices toward LGBT employees and consumers.

In September 2012, the Intel Foundation said that the company could no longer fund organizations like the Boy Scouts of America, so long as the Scouts stand by their ban. BSA troops and councils around the country that have stated they will not adhere to the ban may still receive support from the Intel Foundation.

GLAAD, along with Scouts for Equality, is contacting corporate sponsors of the Boy Scouts of America to inform of them of the BSA’s ban on gay scouts and scout leaders. More than 80,000 people signed a Change.org petition started by Co-Founder of Scouts for Equality, Zach Wahls, and supported by GLAAD, which called on The UPS Foundation to end funding from the national BSA.

GLAAD President Herndon Graddick said:

“More and more corporate leaders are enacting strong non-discrimination policies for practices including grant funding and hiring. Equality is not only good for business, but supported by a vast majority of Americans. The time is now for the BSA to end this outdated and unpopular ban before other corporate funders pull dollars and scouting families drop their support. All of the great work that the BSA does to help young people will continue to be overshadowed by their blatant discrimination until they join other inclusive organizations like the Girl Scouts of the USA and the 4-H Club.”

The CEOs of two major companies -- AT&T and Ernst & Young -- called for an end to the Boy Scouts’ anti-gay policies earlier this year. AT&T’s CEO, Randall Stephenson, and Ernst & Young’s CEO, James Turley, both sit on the national board of the Boy Scouts of America.

GLAAD first started calls for the Boy Scouts of America to end their ban on gay scouts and scout leaders in April 2012 after Jennifer Tyrrell, a mom and den leader from Ohio was removed from her 7-year-old’s Cub Scout Pack for being gay. Tyrrell’s Change.org petition has attracted more than 330,000 signatures in support of ending the Boy Scouts’ ban on gay Scouts and leaders.

Jennifer responded to today's news:

"We are finally heading in the right direction in this country and that is the direction of equality for all. It is time that the BSA respects the needs of the American people and stops rejected devoted parents and scouts because they happen to be LGBT. Until the BSA joins the national trend of equality, sponsors of the organization should continue to withhold support or support the growing number of troops that have rejected the ban."

Zach Wahls and Scouts for Equality also spoke out:

“UPS showed true bravery today in standing with the 80,000 Americans, including thousands of Scouts and Scout leaders, who oppose the Boy Scouts’ hurtful anti-gay policy. That bravery is what Scouting is all about. Corporate America gets it better than most: policies that discriminate aren’t simply wrong, they're bad for business and they're hurting the Scouting community. You would think that after all the Boy Scouts have lost as a result of this policy, they would understand that.”

GLAAD and Scouts for Equality have also called attention to the Americans who are continuing to be harmed by the anti-gay policy, including Kentucky dad Greg Bourke who was ousted from his son’s troop this summer and launched a Change.org campaign to be reinstated as well as 18 year-old Ryan Andresen whose mother started a Change.org petition which is at over 420,000 signatures after he was denied an the rank of Eagle Scout because he is gay.

Earlier this year President Obama, who serves as honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America, publicly opposed the Boy Scouts of America’s anti-gay policy.

It's not just same-sex couples in Maine, Maryland and Washington who are celebrating the recent legalization of gay marriage -- the state treasury also has something to sing about. New research suggests that marriage equality will boost the states' economies in a big way.

The Williams Institute at UCLA Law reported Monday that wedding spending by same-sex couples in the three newest states to approve gay marriage may generate more than $166 million over the next three years.

The Institute estimates that same-sex couples in Maine will collectively spend $15.5 million, Maryland couples will spend $62.6 million and Washingtonians will spend $88.5 million on weddings. The estimates are based on 2010 U.S. Census data and each state's average wedding spending. The researchers assumed that half of the states' same-sex couples (that's nearly 18,000 of about 35,000 gay couples in all three states combined) will marry within three years.

Though same-sex marriage is already legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Washington, D.C., Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts, on Nov. 6 voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington were the first in the country to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote (in the other states, marriage equality was legalized by state legislation). Minnesota voters also rejected a ban on same-sex marriage.

Economists have followed gay marriage's impact on the wedding industry and local economies since Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex unions in 2004. The Williams Institute found that from May 2004 to September 2008, the Massachusetts economy enjoyed a $111 million boost as a result of gay marriage legalization.

And in July, CNN Money reported that the legalization of gay marriage in New York boosted New York City's economy by $259 million in just one year.

“The same number of people have been getting married every year for the last 20 years,” Carley Roney, co-founder and editor in chief of TheKnot.com, told The Daily Beast. “Gay marriage is literally the only thing that has the potential to change the size of the wedding industry.”

11-12-2012 09:58 PM

Filo V.

Re: LGBTQIAP MTF posters and straight allies unite!

The bytch "apologized" but it was a fake one pressured on her by her TV company. Sign the petition here and demand action be taken against the bigot Tricia Macke:

GLAAD and Equality Ohio are calling on Fox 19 (Cincinnati, OH) to condemn comments made last month by news anchor Tricia Macke, who called MSNBC host Rachel Maddow an "Angry Young Man" on her Facebook page. According to incident reports received by Equality Ohio, after a viewer expressed offense to the comment, Mackie stood by her characterization of Maddow as male, responding, "You are right. I'm sorry, I should've said ‘antagonistic.’"

When another person responded that, in the news business, sexual orientation is irrelevant, Macke responded, "I knew what I was saying." The exchange appears to have been deleted from Mackie's Facebook page, but screenshots are below.

Referring to Maddow as a "man" because she is a gay woman is completely unacceptable for someone in the business of journalism.

Cincinnati viewers rely on Macke and Fox 19 to deliver unbiased and fair reporting about the lives of LGBT people in their community. But this is someone who attempted to insult a gay woman by questioning her gender, then stated very clearly that she did so with complete awareness of her actions.

"Macke owes an apology not only to viewers, but to young people in Ohio who are subjected to unfair bullying and harassment like this on a daily basis," said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick.

Tricia Macke undoubtedly tried to insult Maddow because of their political differences, rather than simply because Maddow is gay - but her comments went much further than insulting Maddow's political leanings, and took issue with Maddow's gender, revealing an anti-gay (or at least anti-gender-nonconforming?) bias underlying her political beliefs.

Fox 19 and its owner Raycom Media must take swift action to condemn Macke's remarks, and Macke should make a full apology. These steps are necessary for both Macke and the station to prove they can be trusted to report objectively on issues that impact Cincinnati's LGBT community. GLAAD has reached out to KXIX General Manager Bill Lanesey and has not yet heard back.

11-12-2012 09:46 PM

Filo V.

Re: LGBTQIAP MTF posters and straight allies unite!

Goes to show that conservatives prefer a dead gay/pro-gay over anything else. The fact they are turning their homophobia into a worldwide event is pathetic. They have absolutely no shame. Such disgusting creatures.

This thread has more than 15 replies.
Click here to review the whole thread.